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Videoclip of the Month!!!

Friday, August 12, 2011

City of Sirens - Demo (2011)

City of Sirens - Demo (2011)

City of Sirens is a metalcore band from Australia, Melbourne to be exact and for all who don’t know. Melbourne is the home town of metalcore giants Parkway Drive. That being said, everyone knows that Australian metalcore has the reputation of being gold standard which is renowned all over the world. People know that when the words metalcore and Australia are put in the same sentence, it equals some top notch music. And I can tell you right from the beginning that City of Sirens are definitely not an exception to this rule. In fact, it’s bands like this that makes Aussie metalcore so special and keeps the tradition alive. I have a feeling that this band will explode onto the world stage, and could be the next Parkway Drive or I Killed The Prom Queen.

These guys released a short EP in 2010 which was unfortunately not so good. It was in definite need of a little bit of TLC, and this was mainly due to the extremely poor recording quality of their EP. I think the word rubbish accurately describes how repulsive the previous recording was, it was literally fit for raw black metal. But, City of Sirens have put a neat little bandaid on this conundrum that they were previously faced with. With high quality recording of course, in fact, it’s a lot higher than what some mainstream bands put out. The result of this is some of the best metalcore to ever flow through your ears. They have chosen to re-master two tracks from their original EP which were Without a Second Thought and Oceans, two tracks that were previously scrawled by the appalling recording quality.

I think that real highlight of this band is their song writing. It’s the best I’ve heard in a long, long time from any band anywhere else in the world. They put a lot of the mainstream artists to shame when it comes to this. The structure and framework of their music is absolutely perfect and unrivalled by any other band. Everything from the vocals to the drumming to the guitar work is in place and perfectly in time. Not to mention how it’s all put together. The transitions are smooth and don’t disrupt the momentum of the music, also the way they have layout each track seemed to have a little bit of thought to it. It’s just perfect, it’s the only word to describe such a thing. And it’s even better if you contrast their EP with this demo because they have greatly improved their sound all thanks to recording quality.

They also like to build tension in their music as well. Both tracks feature a relatively calm, relaxing start and end with a breakdown. We all love breakdowns and the breakdowns here are nothing to be ashamed of either because they suit their music perfectly. They are perfect breakdowns, put in the perfect place at the perfect time. Not only this but, they use more their one type of breakdown. Fast hardcore style breakdowns and heavy deathcoreish style ones. This just adds a little more perfection to their music.

The next thing that they have done in their music is implement emotion. There is no such thing as perfect metalcore without emotion because it’s this emotion that keeps us coming back for more. There seems to be a strong emotional connection when listening to this album. The music is so uplifting at times that I think it’s the type of thing that could make your day and I mean that with no exaggeration at all. It’s so simple, but for some reason it’s so hard to pull off for many bands. It’s this simplicity that really emphasises their music because it’s makes it so powerful. You can literally feel the music take control of you. And trust me, being controlled by this album is definitely a pleasant experience.

Overall this could be the next big thing to come out of Australia. I’ve never seen a band with so much potential up their sleeves than these guys. I have a feeling that their debut album which WILL be recorded in the same quality as this will be the next biggest thing to come out in metalcore. The biggest thing to hit the shelves since I Killed The Prom Queen. I recommend this to all metalcore fans out there and especially to fans of I Killed The Prom Queen and Parkway Drive. This is guaranteed to satisfy anyone that is remotely into metalcore, melodic hardcore and post-hardcore. There is one let down though, it’s too short! We want more! I cannot wait to hear what these guys bring out next because I think it’s going to be huge! I give City of Sirens’s 2011 demo a 19/20.